"Lethargica" as written by and Fredrik/kidman Thordendal....
The void clenches its determined jaws
A lethargic, careless motion to kill
Monstrous, prodigious, indifferent
Slow and deliberate its torturous skills
Its molars grind and shatter
Onerous, leaden bringers of hurt
Unhurried in its deadly intent
The undoer of all, dense and inert
Its design perfected through aeon's
Pure, immaculate, clean, homicidal god-machine
Calm, precise ambition
Untroubled by the roar of unending screams,
The droning blare of absolute doom
The down-pitched moan of collapsing dreams
Composed, cold, unconditional
Uncompromising till all is death
Extinction, ruin, its malicious cause
Till the last exhalation of human breath
A lethargic, careless motion to kill
Monstrous, prodigious, indifferent
Slow and deliberate its torturous skills
Its molars grind and shatter
Onerous, leaden bringers of hurt
Unhurried in its deadly intent
The undoer of all, dense and inert
Its design perfected through aeon's
Pure, immaculate, clean, homicidal god-machine
Calm, precise ambition
Untroubled by the roar of unending screams,
The droning blare of absolute doom
The down-pitched moan of collapsing dreams
Composed, cold, unconditional
Uncompromising till all is death
Extinction, ruin, its malicious cause
Till the last exhalation of human breath
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And so I've arrived at the notion that the undoer in this song is entropy. It is the "omnicidal" bringer of death and ruin on every scale of existence. It is "pure, immaculate, clean." It's "cold" and its rise is "unconditional". In the way that it is woven into the laws and very fabric of the universe it is god like. In its approach towards universal homogeneity it is the ultimate bringing of ruin, the true "undoer of all." It is "inert."
Few other possibilities explain the title as clearly. The point of maximum entropy (the end to which all things move in a closed system) is the homogeneous point at which no energy is available for work. Sounds like a lethargic state of things, doesn't it?
This is the "schizoreality warp" (again from Catch 33) that people refuse to accept, and because of this, they live in fantasies/simulacra of empowerment - a subject matter discussed extensively on obZen (the album). A pretense to the importance of self, meaning, or structured existence in general. Actually, in one way, the title of the album could refer to the delusional attempts at harmony in life against the infinite force of chaos/void. So on one level the album could be interpreted as exhibiting different mindsets and coping strategies when faced with this. Since most people can't handle the truth (to use a cliché), they live in the aforementioned illusions of permanence, structure, and harmony, regardless of the means to achieve and sustain them, and at any cost. Thus, perverted harmony, thus, obZen. A self-defeating logic, a catch 33, an impossibility at the heart of existence.
Lethargica is starkly different from all the other songs on the album because it is almost strangely neutral in its tone towards its subject matter. I'm not sensing any bitterness or anger at an all-powerful nothingness, even though, of course, the song is cathartic. All I hear is an honest description of nothingness/monstrosity and its impact upon us, which is all that can be asked for. It's a strangely relaxing song, too (probably due to its hypnotic rhythms).
If interpreted in a more realistic way I would come to some one being cold-blooded, or insane.
Someone who has "Its design perfected through aeons
Pure, immaculate, clean, omnicidal god/machine"
Wich makes me think of someone insane because that person would interpret himself.
And unstoppable in his way of thinking, because he already thinks hes divine.
Such a person can only be stopped when killed.
God, what a song! Don't you just love it when it goes quiet for twice as long as you exect it to and then goes really heavy? I live for this band. Lyrics just as apocalyptic as the music.
God, what a song! Don't you just love it when it goes quiet for twice as long as you exect it to and then goes really heavy? I live for this band. Lyrics just as apocalyptic as the music.